Man dies after fight over bicycle in Ford Heights

Ronald Wade is charged with aggravated battery and accused of injuring a man in a fight over a bicycle.

Ronald Wade is charged with aggravated battery and accused of injuring a man in a fight over a bicycle. (Cook County sheriff)

Staff report

A 48-year-old man who was in a coma after a fight over a bicycle in Ford Heights this week died today from his injuries, the Cook County Sheriff's Department said.

Ronald Wade, of the 1000 block of Lexington Circle in Ford Heights, was charged with aggravated battery before the man's death. Those charges could be upgraded, the sheriff's department said in a statement.

The victim was identified as Fred Barnes of 1440 Park Lane in Ford Heights, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was pronounced dead at 11:44 a.m.

On Monday about 9 p.m. Wade, 18, was struggling with the 48-year-old man over the older man's bicycle in the 1400 block of East 13th Place in Ford Heights, according to the statement.

At some point Wade grabbed the man in a chokehold, beat him and threw him to the ground, causing the man to hit his head on the ground, police said. The man suffered serious injuries to his head and was taken to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights and later to Stroger Hospital in Chicago.

Wade was arrested a day later and is being held at Cook County Jail in lieu of a $2 million bail.